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Nine Inch Nails

With its current issue, Louisiana Cultural Vistas takes on a new name, 64 Parishes. It has relaunched with a special music section tied to the Tricentennial edited by Alison Fensterstock, and it includes work by John Swenson, Michael Tisserand, Gwen Thompkins, Jennifer Odell, Matt Sakakeeny & Oliver Wang,Maurice Carlos Ruffin, and more. The topics range from “I’ll Fly Away” to a Morning 40 Federation/Galactic collaboration to Lil Wayne and Louis Armstrong to the French Opera House to Louis Prima.

In most locales north of the equator, festival season is over, but the Gulf South stays warm long enough to extend its debauchery well into the fall. Even in Houston, though, a mid-December music festival seems ill-advised. Last year during Day for Night, the weather almost cut the party short as gale-force winds toppled tents and brought in a cold front that dropped the temperature into the 30s at night.

[Updated] Recently, my wife and I heard “It’s My Life” and had a who-is-that moment. She came up with No Doubt; me—Talk Talk. In fact, it was Talk Talk synth-pop version from 1984, but No Doubt’s arrangement stayed pretty close to the original so I heard what she heard. The experience illustrated how a song’s popularity is tied to time. A friend similarly argued that if the ’90s are your musical sweet spot, “Hurt” is obviously a Nine Inch Nails songs. If you’re older or younger, it belongs to Johnny Cash.

Much of what I thought about Nine Inch Nails' Voodoo set is online at Spin.com, but while the show was almost generous and open-hearted by NIN standards, it still had an impressive air of claustrophobia. The overhead lights dropped to lower the ceiling onstage to such a point that the band often seemed boxed in, and Trent Reznor seemed similarly constrained as he was zipped to the top of his leather jacket, then wrapped around the throat with a scarf.

In recent years, Voodoo has at times felt like the festival wants to be something for everybody. This year’s lineup covers less ground. Headliners Pearl Jam, Nine Inch Nails and The Cure have the broad appeal of classic rock (which is what they are in 2013), and Voodoo remains committed to a wide swath of New Orleans music, including Dr. John, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Glen David Andrews, Coyotes, The Revivalists, Quintron and Miss Pussycat, G-Eazy, and Unicorn Fukr.

Now we know. Pearl Jam and Calvin Harris will headline the opening night of The Voodoo Experience, which for the first time will take place on City Park's Festival Grounds. Nine Inch Nails and Afrojack top the bill Saturday, and The Cure and Bassnectar will close out the festival on Sunday night.

Here is the full schedule, accurate as of today. The free Voodoo app will be available for download starting today at 4 p.m. Central at the Voodoo website.

The Cure join the lineup for this year's Voodoo Music Experience, which will take place November 1-3 on City Park's Festival Grounds. The reunited British band joins a festival that includes Pearl Jam, Nine Inch Nails, Calvin Harris, Bassnectar, Paramore, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Afrojack, Boys Noize, Shovels and Rope, The Revivalists, Matt and Kim, How to Destroy Angels, Dr. John and many more.